Kiera Cass in Manila! (Too Awesome For Words So I Put Lots of Pictures)

National Bookstore brought Kiera Cass to the Philippines for a 2-day book signing in Manila on August 3rd and Cebu on August 4th. Book signings with foreign authors are rare here so when I found out Kiera Cass would have one I knew I had to get my copy of The Selection signed (and The Elite which I purchased the week before). I was already stoked about going but my excitement tripled when Jesselle of The Lifelong Bookworm asked me to be her plus one to the blogger forum before the actual signing. HOW COOL IS THAT?! (Thanks, Jesselle!)

It's my first time attending an author event and meeting some of my fellow bloggers so I was pretty nervous and excited at the same time. It was a mad dash from my school to Greenbelt. I, unfortunately, had a class till 11 a.m. that day and I worried I wouldn't make on time for the 12:30 p.m. forum. Thankfully, I did and I still had time to spare. I was able to mingle a bit with the bloggers I only met and talked to on Twitter.

Then the person we've all been waiting for arrived! I easily get starstruck around celebrities/well-known people so seeing Kiera Cass in the flesh was definitely surreal. She was just... there. So close. And upbeat. And friendly! The Q&A started immediately after Kiera was introduced. I learned a lot aboutthe world of The Selection and I was able to appreciate it more when Kiera answered every question.

Jesselle asked a question on world building

After that we lined up to get one of our books signed. We were only allowed to get one book signed during the forum so we had to get the others signed after.

Several photo ops and awesomeness later, we went to the book signing. Let me tell you, I honestly was not expecting the turn out. More than 600 people came, all eagerly excited to see and meet Kiera. That is insane!

A lot of screaming ensued when Kiera walked in. You'd think a rockstar arrived (well, she sorta is). She actually got teary-eyed! There was a short interview wherein Kiera explained how she came up with the book, what she's working on and who's which team she's on (she's on both teams, of course). Fan girls were going crazy trying to defend their ships. (Go Team Maxon, by the way. Team Maxon!). One girl asked if Kiera would consider Rob Pattinson to be... blah, I didn't even hear the rest of her question because the crowd went BOOOOO! Hah! Poor kid.

Then it was time to line up for the book signing. This time, I had my copy of The Elite signed. I was number 21. It took a while for me to get to Kiera. But it was worth it!!!

Wrong angle -hello arm- but I don't care. I have another photo with Kiera!

It was definitely a memorable day for me. Seeing Kiera Cass, getting my books signed, meeting my fellow book bloggers? One for the books. Thank you National Bookstore, HarperCollins, Kiera and all the cool people who made this happen! YOU ROCK!

OMG I got goosebumps when I read your update! I am so incredibly jealous that you had such an awesome author event to go too. I love your signed books and all the photos you took! It looks like it had a really good vibe :)